Underlayer Coating Composition Based on a Crosslinkable Polymer

Abstract

The present invention relates to an underlayer coating composition capable of being crosslinked comprising a polymer, a compound capable of generating a strong acid, and optionally a crosslinker, where the polymer comprises at least one absorbing chromophore and at least one moiety selected from an epoxy group, an aliphatic hydroxy group and mixtures thereof. The invention further relates to a process of imaging the underlayer coating compositions.

1 . An underlayer coating composition capable of being crosslinked comprising a polymer, a compound capable of generating a strong acid, and optionally a crosslinking agent, further where the polymer comprises at least one absorbing chromophore and at least one moiety selected from an epoxy group, an aliphatic hydroxy group and mixtures thereof. 
   
   
       2 . The underlayer coating composition of  claim 1 , where the polymer comprises at least one absorbing chromophore, at least one epoxy group and at least one aliphatic hydroxy group. 
   
   
       3 . The underlayer coating composition of  claim 1 , where the polymer is free of silicon groups. 
   
   
       4 . The underlayer coating composition of  claim 1 , where the crosslinking agent is selected from melamines, methylols, glycolurils, polymeric glycolurils hydroxy alkyl amides, epoxy and epoxy amine resins, blocked isocyanates, and divinyl monomers. 
   
   
       5 . The underlayer coating composition of  claim 1 , where the polymer has an ethylenic backbone. 
   
   
       6 . The underlayer coating composition of  claim 1 , further comprising a compound with a weight average molecular weight of less than 1,000, selected from a compound comprising two or more hydroxy groups, a compound comprising two or more epoxy groups, and a compound comprising at least one hydroxy group and at least one epoxy group. 
   
   
       7 . The underlayer coating composition of  claim 1 , where the polymer comprises an absorbing chromophore and an epoxy group or hydroxy group. 
   
   
       8 . The underlayer coating composition of  claim 1 , where the polymer comprises at least one unit derived from monomers selected from styrene, benzyl methacrylate, glycidyl methacrylate, hydroxypropyl methacrylate, and methyl(meth)acrylate. 
   
   
       9 . The underlayer coating composition of  claim 1 , where the polymer is a polyester. 
   
   
       10 . The underlayer coating composition of  claim 1 , where the polymer is a polyester free of carboxylic acid. 
   
   
       11 . The underlayer coating composition of  claim 1 , where the polymer comprises a unit of structure, 
     
       
         
         
             
             
         
       
     
     where, A, B, R′ and R″ are independently selected from an organic group, where at least one selected from R′, R″, A and B comprises an epoxy group, and at least one selected from R′, R″, A and B comprises an aromatic chromophore. 
   
   
       12 . The underlayer coating composition of  claim 11 , Where A, B, R′ and R″ are independently selected from an aromatic group, an alkyl group, a heterocyclic epoxy group, alkyl epoxy group, aromatic group, alkylene aromatic group, alkylene group, substituted alkylene group, and substituted alkylene ester group. 
   
   
       13 . The underlayer coating composition of  claim 11 , where R′ and R″ are independently selected from aliphatic alcohol, primary aliphatic alcohol, secondary aliphatic alcohol, aliphatic etheralcohols, alkylaryl etheralcohols, heteroaliphatic alcohol, aliphatic glycidyl alcohol, glycidyl heteroaliphatic alcohol, aliphatic glycidylether alcohol, and heteroaliphatic glycidylether. 
   
   
       14 . The underlayer coating composition of  claim 1 , where the polymer has the structure, 
     
       
         
         
             
             
         
       
     
     where, A, B, R′ and R″ are independently selected from an organic group, and, where at least one selected from R′, R″, A and B comprises an epoxy group, at least one selected from R′, R″, A and B comprises a hydroxy group, and at least one selected from R′, R″, A and B comprises an aromatic chromophore. 
   
   
       15 . The underlayer coating composition of  claim 14 , where the hydroxy group is an alkylene hydroxy group. 
   
   
       16 . The underlayer coating composition of  claim 11 , where the polymer is free of an acid group and/or phenolic group. 
   
   
       17 . The underlayer coating composition of  claim 1 , where the compound capable of generating a strong acid is a thermal acid generator. 
   
   
       18 . A process for manufacturing a microelectronic device, comprising;
 a) providing a substrate with a first layer of an antireflective coating composition from  claim 1 ;   b) optionally, providing at least a second antireflective coating layer over the first antireflective coating composition layer;   b) coating a photoresist layer above the antireflective coating layers;   c) imagewise exposing the photoresist layer;   d) developing the photoresist layer with an aqueous alkaline developing solution.   
   
   
       19 . The process of  claim 18 , where the photoresist is sensitive from about 240 nm to about 30 nm. 
   
   
       20 . The process according to  claim 18 , where the developing solution is an aqueous solution comprising a hydroxide base.